Superman #57 (1949)
by William Woolfolk & Wayne Boring
cover by Wayne Boring
The cover might make you think this is yet another story where Lois Lane gets powers.
Trust me, it’s way crazier.
We’re going to skip the first story (I’ll talk about it later) to move the cover story, which immediately tells you we’re going to get more than Superwoman.
We already begin with a startling revelation: there are more than four people working at the Daily Planet!!! I could’ve sworn that Clark, Lois, Perry and Jimmy where the only people in the entire building!
That’s just the setup to have Superman witness a demonstration about the Wilson Rays.
And they’re lucky Superman decided to attend, since he has to prevent the rays from killing everyone.
Wayne Boring is now the most prominent Superman artist, and he will be for some time.
He’s a bit, well, boring in how stiff he tends to draw everyone… but you can see his creative side shine through some time, like with that panel of Superman vanishing.
The incident sends Superman a thousand years into the future, conveniently right in front of a plaque identifying the year.
I should note that we’re only 9 years before the first Legion story.
Also right there is the woman from the cover. Surprise: that’s not Lois Lane!
Meet Lois 4XR. For some reason there’s a few Silver Age stories where in the future people have numbers inside their names; turns out that’s older than the Silver Age itself.
Lois sure has some impressive genes if the resemblance lasts THIS long.
And a good hairdresser too, since apparently hairdo is also hereditary.
We’re 10 years before the first Supergirl story and also 9 years before the introduction of Kandor, so it’s understandable why Superman would immediately assume she has powers because they’re related: he hasn’t met any other Kryptonian survivors yet!
In fact, Superman won’t even learn he’s from Krypton until four issues later.
However, he’s waaaay off with his assumption.
Pop quiz! After being thrown a thousand years in the future when everyone has powers, what will Superman’s first priority be?
A) learn about the future of humanity
B) learn if he will marry Lois Lane or not
C) figure out how to get back
D) make sure the future won’t learn his secret identity
E) prevent people from the future from having powers
And the answer is…
This is technically the first time we see the 30th century, and it’s… a bit different from the Legion future.
Now you may ask yourself: hasn’t Superman already learned how to time travel at this point?
The answer is yes, he’s traveled through time before.
He’s just not doing it now because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Unfortunately the people of 2949 don’t know much about the 20th century, because of a disaster happening in 1970.
Trust me, Superman, this is a golden opportunity for you considering what you will actually be doing in the year 1970.
The most notable comet of 1970 was comet Bennett, which was SLIGHTLY less destructive than this one.
Those were some HUGE buildings!!!
The destruction was so thorough that they had to build a new Metropolis elsewhere.
I’m more impressed that ANYTHING survived that impact!!!
And the people of the future have powers because they were exposed to comet gas.
Wait, does that mean Comet Queen was right all along and just picked the wrong comet?
You’d think Superman would be happy to work with someone else with superpowers, but he has to be a dick about it.
I showed you all the panels where Lois 4XR has used her powers.
Yeah she didn’t perfectly fix the excavation right away, but is she really “a pest”?
Superman is able to track the comet, which still has a copy of the original Daily Planet.
Notice that paper survived:
A) a thousand years of exposure to space radiation
B) a thousand years the coldness of outer space
C) after it had already survived THIS:
Sounds legit.
Superman also has to save Lois 4XR from being magnetized by a comet.
Okay getting into danger because of her curiosity IS a trait in common with Lois Lane, I’ll give him that, but Superman is the one being insufferable here.
They really used to build sturdy stuff in the 1940s, didn’t they?
Because the paper wasn’t the only thing to survive the cataclysm AND a thousand years of space!
Superman then does his usual trick of watching the past by intercepting old light.
Although this might be the only time we see him use a camera for this.
But first he has to save Lois 4XR AGAIN.
Alright I’ll give him this one, it’s getting a little annoying.
Her reaction to the knowledge of her ancestor is quite something.
So there you have it, Superman will marry Lois Lane. We’re still going to milk the whole will-they-won’t-they for decades, of course.
With the picture proving Superman is from the past, the future scientists agree to send him back home.
And if you didn’t see the final twist coming a mile away… hi, I’m glad you visited but this site must be confusing to someone who has never read a comic book before.
Historical significance: 0/10
Kind of a precursor to both Supergirl and the Legion, except not really.
The cover IS sometimes erroneously shown when talking about Lois getting powers, but that’s the wrong Lois. In fact, the cover is a straight up lie.
Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Despite some incredible destruction, and technically speaking being a bit early for the Silver Age proper, this fits perfectly.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
There are some surprisingly great panels (the one with the comet and Superman’s disappearance immediately come to mind)… but other than that this is a very dated story.
From a modern perspective it’s also irritating to see Superman antagonize Lois 4XR for no reason, fixate on the future marriage AND show absolutely no intellectual curiosity whatsoever about the future.
What else was in Superman #57 ?
The first story, also with Wayne Boring artwork but written by Ed Hamilton, is about a meteor instead of a comet.
It’s actually a rocket full of alien robots!
I can 100% see this as the basis of a cheesy 50s movie.
But plot twist: this is actually a trick by Lex Luthor!
I have to admit I did not see this coming.
See, this is why super-scientist Luthor never worked for me the same way businessman Luthor does.
If he can build giant robots that destroy entire cities, what’s the point of using them to trick people into giving him diamonds!?
During this Superman has been stuck inside a rocket that will blow up if he tries anything… so he decides to USE HIS LUNGS TO SHOOT IT INTO SPACE and jam the bomb!!!
If you’re already Superman, I think that using a mecha is just cheating.
The third and last story, also drawn by Wayne boring but written by an unknown writer, is about Superman adopting an orphan.
Lois Lane is VERY CLOSE to becoming her insufferable Silver Age self.
Nowadays he’d probably be called Tommy-El, but remember: at this point Superman doesn’t know his Kryptonian name.
Superman’s educational methods are… let’s say unorthodox.
Presented with no context.
I swear I did not edit the dialogue.
The story is notable for being one of the earliest cases of a Superman story acknowledging the existence of Superboy (who had been created four years earlier).
Also: I was under the impression that Superman’s costume WAS the Superboy costume, but apparently he switched it. Despite the costume being canonically able to stretch to infinity.
Eventually Superman has to leave Tommy because criminals keep trying to kill him, but he vows to never forget his adopted son.
He won’t. Tommy is never referenced again.